John W. Davis (politician)

John W. Davis (politician) (1873-1955), American lawyer and political leader, born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and educated at Washington and Lee University, at which he taught (1896-97) following graduation. He then established a law practice in Clarksburg. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1911, but he resigned in 1913 to become solicitor general of the U.S. From 1918 to 1921 he was ambassador to Britain. In 1924 he was the candidate for the Democratic Party for the presidency of the U.S., but he was defeated by the Republican candidate Calvin Coolidge. In 1954 Davis successfully defended the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer against charges that he was a security risk.